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Thursday, May 23, 2013

Requiem - Lauren Oliver

Synopsis: They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.But we are still here.And there are more of us every day.Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.But we have chosen a different road.And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.We are even free to choose the wrong thing.Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.I've got to be honest and admit that I wasn't as smitten with this series as everyone else seems to be. I loved the premise of love being considered a contagious disease. It got me really excited to read Delirium. I think I just had a classic case of extremely high hopes, and they just weren't met. I won't go into detail about the particular things that rubbed me the wrong way, though, since I don't want to turn anyone off from reading these because Lauren Oliver is SO cool. She is awesome on Twitter, and I went to an author panel she was a part of, and she was by far my favorite. She just rocks. I wish I would have liked the Delirium series more.Due to my loving Lauren Oliver and all the hype surrounding these books, I continued reading even after Delirium didn't rock my socks off. I also love all things dystopia, so I was rooting for Pandemonium to improve my feelings toward the series, which it definitely did. I've heard mixed reactions about book 2, but I liked it a lot. Lena finally grew a pair in my eyes. I liked her a lot more, so I enjoyed reading about her more--plus I have a major crush on Julian. Sorry! Requiem started out as my favorite of the trilogy. I'm a sucker for sticking it to "the man," and government vs. the people. Characters who want their freedom are automatically cooler than your average protagonist. I also enjoyed the varying points of view in this one, which was done SO well. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll leave you with what fell flat for me, just so you are warned. The ending of the book--and the series--leaves a lot open. I feel like I don't know what happened to several characters I was interested in. But by all means, please enjoy these books more than I did.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Requiem - Lauren Oliver

Synopsis: They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.But we are still here.And there are more of us every day.Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.But we have chosen a different road.And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.We are even free to choose the wrong thing.Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.I've got to be honest and admit that I wasn't as smitten with this series as everyone else seems to be. I loved the premise of love being considered a contagious disease. It got me really excited to read Delirium. I think I just had a classic case of extremely high hopes, and they just weren't met. I won't go into detail about the particular things that rubbed me the wrong way, though, since I don't want to turn anyone off from reading these because Lauren Oliver is SO cool. She is awesome on Twitter, and I went to an author panel she was a part of, and she was by far my favorite. She just rocks. I wish I would have liked the Delirium series more.Due to my loving Lauren Oliver and all the hype surrounding these books, I continued reading even after Delirium didn't rock my socks off. I also love all things dystopia, so I was rooting for Pandemonium to improve my feelings toward the series, which it definitely did. I've heard mixed reactions about book 2, but I liked it a lot. Lena finally grew a pair in my eyes. I liked her a lot more, so I enjoyed reading about her more--plus I have a major crush on Julian. Sorry! Requiem started out as my favorite of the trilogy. I'm a sucker for sticking it to "the man," and government vs. the people. Characters who want their freedom are automatically cooler than your average protagonist. I also enjoyed the varying points of view in this one, which was done SO well. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll leave you with what fell flat for me, just so you are warned. The ending of the book--and the series--leaves a lot open. I feel like I don't know what happened to several characters I was interested in. But by all means, please enjoy these books more than I did.